Chapter 189: UMG's Stance

[Chapter 189: UMG's Stance]

Late at night, Karlie Kloss lay in bed, tossing and turning.

Sitting up in the dark, she grabbed her phone from beside the pillow and typed a message to Taylor.

[Watch out for that model named Anne! She and Ryan have been flirting.]

[Send?]

After a moment's thought, Karlie hit [No] and deleted the message entirely. Should she send Taylor an anonymous message tomorrow? No, even if it was anonymous, Ryan would probably know who it was from.

As Karlie wrestled with her thoughts, another message from Ryan came through. [Get some rest. The Olsen sisters will reach out to you tomorrow...]

She considered this for a moment before finally putting her phone down. Taylor had been so good to her; she felt she should return the favor. But could she even take care of herself right now?

If she took a step back, this was between them, and if it went badly, she might bear the brunt of the fallout. Maybe it would be best to pretend nothing happened.

Karlie lay back down, but the thoughts wouldn't leave her mind. What if she saw them together again? Should she just ignore it? What if Ryan felt something for her too? Images of filming the music video with Ryan flashed through her mind.

Ryan riding a motorcycle, her arms wrapped around him as the breeze tousled his hair.

In a restaurant, he spoke about the bad takes.

Running toward the ocean on the beach.

No matter what, she couldn't accept him; she couldn't do anything to hurt Taylor. Karlie made up her mind.

...

New Orleans, Bad Room Nightclub.

On opening day, it was packed. Even though Lil Wayne wasn't there, several Grammy awards shone in a glass case for everyone to see.

The large poster outside showcased Lil Wayne and Ryan holding a Grammy.

This time, Lil Wayne had mobilized his entire network locally. In the week leading up to the opening, there had been extensive promotion all over town, not to mention the added publicity from winning the Grammy. Countless people flocked to the venue, creating a bustling crowd.

"Ryan, we expect to see over three thousand people tonight. With an average spend of $130 per person, that's around $400,000 in revenue for the day." The local nightclub manager, a trusted associate of Lil Wayne's, said with a grin. He was an African-American man who had previously worked at a local bar and was now adept at running the club.

Ryan nodded; even though the local spending power in New Orleans was slightly less than in Orlando, the club should easily pull in over $300,000 for the day.

However, nightclubs weren't always packed; Monday to Thursday saw fewer patrons, but they still anticipated nearly $7 million in revenue over the month. They could break even in about two months.

"By the way, Ryan, we haven't settled the final payment with the suppliers yet. Lil Wayne has sort of been covering them for a while. He didn't want me to bother you too much about it, saying it might hinder your other work. But you see how it is..." the manager said sheepishly, flashing his bright white teeth.

"I'll take care of it right away," Ryan said with a nod.

They had agreed beforehand to co-invest, and since the manager brought it up, he didn't want to delay -- he wasn't short on cash.

He called his finance team right in front of the manager.

"I'm about to wire the money, but we just paid salaries last week, and we only have a little over $600,000 left on hand."

"Only that little?" Ryan frowned; it had never been that low before.

"Here's the situation: the nightclub's finances are fine, but you've had significant investments recently, including the new club and the initial expenses for Taylor's concert. Besides, the Bedroom Records and T&R haven't received their share of the royalties from the parent company yet." The finance team member explained. "Just send the money over now, and we'll sort the rest later." Ryan hung up.

...

Ryan didn't linger in New Orleans. After three days of opening performances, he returned to Orlando.

Barely stepping into his office, he heard a knock at the door.

"Boss, you're back!"

It had been a while since he'd seen Teresa, who stepped forward to help him off with his coat, hanging it neatly on a rack.

"You can head out for now," Ryan said.

"Sure, just call me if you need anything," Teresa replied, nodding as she left his office.

Ryan quickly dialed Scott's number.

"I'm worried about that too. They say the payment system is upgrading, so the settlement will be delayed a few days," Scott explained.

"Is this happening at other record labels under UMG?" Ryan asked.

"Not that I know of, Ryan... If you ask me, maybe it's time to look at a different collaborator for your new song."

"You mean Universal Music doesn't want me working with a singer from Sony?" Ryan caught onto Scott's implication.

"The last time you collaborated with Leona, it was her reaching out to you. Plus, you didn't have the same level of fame then as you do now; the parent company allowed it. But now you're approaching Leona instead," Scott clarified.

"If they didn't want me to work with her, why not tell me directly? There's no reason to stop the royalty payments outright," Ryan pondered.

All of Ryan and Taylor's singles, including EPs and albums, were released by UMG, which collected the sales revenue before distributing it to the record labels.

"We're just a subsidiary of Republic Records. We don't have the same connections as directly signed artists. They didn't communicate much with you before, so they probably naturally lack trust. Plus, given you've already promoted the project, UMG stepping in at this point would cause unnecessary gossip, which is probably why they're using this strategy."

"Are they trying to say they hold my future in their hands?" Ryan scoffed.

The threat was clear.

"Yeah, they think this tactic works most of the time," Scott chuckled awkwardly.

"Go find out what the other side thinks. If that's really their sentiment, I'd be better off switching collaborators," Ryan said after some thought.

...

Switching collaborators wouldn't significantly impact him; there were plenty of reliable female artists under UMG to choose from.

In the short term, cutting ties with UMG wasn't feasible -- aside from the high cost, it would also cause issues with UMG, which would be a lose-lose situation for Ryan.

However, that feeling of having someone else control his fate was quite uncomfortable.

Ryan decided to plan long-term, focusing on developing his own artists and recruiting more newcomers.

Jay-Z had several popular singers, like Ne-Yo and Rihanna. If he could build a strong roster, he could either partner with a record label or go independent.

With that in mind, Ryan called Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris to ask about their new songs.

"Great! You guys' new song will be released right after my next one. Get ready to come to the States," Ryan said as he hung up.

...

Then Scott called back with UMG's clear stance: they would not interfere with any female artists under UMG.

"Still thinking about Taylor?"

"Forget it; let's go with someone else." Ryan considered it. He could force a collaboration with Taylor, but given they just worked together, the audience might be tired of seeing them again.

Ryan thought it over and decided to call Jimmy Iovine.

*****

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